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(above: John Dawson, Pacific Coast
Rainforest (Nature of America Series), gouache on paper. Art director: Ethel
Kessler. First day of issue: March 29, 2000. When John Dawson begins preliminary
sketches, he faces a design challenge that many of his colleagues do not:
the entire painting must work as a wide view, but each stamp must be beautiful
when used alone on an envelope as well.

Elvis is in the building
and so are Marilyn Monroe, Louis Armstrong, Cary and Ulysses Grant, Joe
Louis, Audrey Hepburn, James Dean, George Washington, Dracula, Frankenstein,
dinosaurs and trains, planes and automobiles. (right: Michael J.
Deas, Marilyn Monroe (Legends of Hollywood
Series), oil on paper, Art Director: Carl T. Herrman, First day of issue:
June 1, 1995. For this controversial first stamp in the Legends of Hollywood
Series, eight artists were commissioned to produce color concept sketches.
To create the final oil painting, Michael J. Deas used a studio photo from
the early 1950s, although he made some modifications: Monroe's hand and
shoulder are composites based on other photographs)

All of these and many more are in TheArt of
the Stamp, an exhibition of 100 original works of art by 55 artists,
who were chosen to create postage stamps. The exhibit opened its national
tour at The R.W. Norton Art Gallery in Shreveport, Louisiana, on May 10
and will continue there through July 31, 2005.

The exhibition was drawn from the collection of the United
Postal Service by the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum in partnership
with the Postal Service. It was organized for travel by the Smithsonian
Institution Traveling Exhibition Service which has been sharing the wealth
of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people
outside Washington, D.C., for more than 50 years.

Few works of art enjoy as vast an audience as American
stamps. At their most basic, stamps are simple proofs of postage. But with
the addition of graphic designs, they become something much greater as will
be seen in this extraordinary exhibit.

These miniature masterpieces, whose designs span the 1960s
to the present, reflect the process of creating American stamps as new subjects
and designs are explored. The exhibit is arranged in groupings featuring
well-known events in American history, American heroes, the American scene,
sports and athletics, technology and transportation, nature, and arts and
entertainment.

Artists who have designed stamps for the Postal Service
and who are featured in this exhibition include Michael Deas (Audrey
Hepburn, Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean,), Al Hirschfeld (Stars
of the Silent Screen series), Mark Hess (Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses
S. Grant), C.F. Payne (Ethel Merman) and Jerry Pinkney (Sojourner
Truth).

U.S. Postal Service Manager of Stamp Development, Terry
McCaffrey, said, "The Postal Service is proud of its tradition in partnering
with the leading illustrators and designers of the day in developing some
of the most beautiful and innovative works of postage stamp art being produced.
The successful results of these collaborations are proudly displayed in
this wonderful exhibit that will travel around the country."

The Smithsonian National Postal Museum is devoted to presenting
the engaging history of the nation's mail service and showcasing the largest
and most comprehensive collection of stamps and philatelic material in the
world.

The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
says

The The subject matter depicted in the Art of the
Stamp runs the gamut of American history and culture, arts and entertainment,
and science and nature-from birds to Broadway musicals, movie stars to
the military, flowers to transportation. The exhibition also affords a
rare opportunity to get a glimpse of how stamp designs are developed, from
pencil sketches to final artwork. Preliminary sketches and behind-the-scenes
material for other stamps show the complexity of the process.

One of the most famous stamps in recent memory is the
"Elvis Presley," the most popular stamp of all time with record
sales of 500 million. The Art of the Stamp features the original
art for this now-iconic stamp along with four preliminary concept portraits.
Also presented are two original Norman Rockwell pieces commissioned by
the United States Postal Service, one of the few times these two works
have been publicly displayed. This collection from the USPS achieves what
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who helped design several stamps, saw
as the chief aim of stamp art: It "dispels boredom, enlarges our vision,
broadens our knowledge, makes us better citizens, and in innumerable ways
enriches our lives.

Tour itinerary

May 10 - July 31, 2005

R. W. Norton Art Gallery

Shreveport, LA

August 20, 2005 - November 13, 2005

Durham Western Heritage Museum

Omaha, NE

December 3, 2005 - January 26, 2006

Midwest Museum of American Art

Elkhart, IN

January 27, 2007 - April 22, 2007

Plains Art Museum

Fargo, ND

(above: Robert M. Cunningham , Olympic Summer Games: Runners,
acrylic on paper. Art director: Bradbury Thompson. First day of issue: September
28, 1979. Artists commissioned to create new Olympics stamps typically have
to find fresh ways to depict familiar subjects. Robert M. Cunningham solves
this problem by focusing on the mesmerizing forms and shapes of three runners
frozen in time.

The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
(SITES) quote is from the Service's web
site. SITES began developing and circulating exhibitions in 1952. Since
then, it has put more than 1500 exhibitions on the road, making it the world's
largest traveling exhibition service.

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